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J.R. Stainback, owner of Restaurant 39 in Henderson, appeared on the first segment of WIZS Town Talk Monday at 11 a.m.
Reopening today after a 30-day shutdown, Restaurant 39 will offer its full menu for takeout including vegetable casseroles, chitlins, country fried steak, baby flounder and fried catfish.
The restaurant’s hiatus was due mostly to slow sales when COVID-19 restrictions were first put into place. “We tried to do ‘to go’ for two weeks and sales were down 90-percent,” explained Stainback. “I’m hoping, opening back up, that people have gotten a little more use to the situation and how things are operating.”
The restaurant, located at 946 G West Andrews Avenue in the Crossroads Shopping Center, is accepting call ahead or Facebook orders. You may also drive to the restaurant and place your order with an employee in the parking lot.
To place an order by telephone, please call the restaurant’s main line at (252) 572-2661 or the alternate number at (919) 584-2251. The dining area of the restaurant is currently closed to customers, so orders will be brought directly to your car.
Stainback said bottled drinks should be available with takeout orders beginning this Wednesday and to-go menus have been printed and will be handed out to the community.
While he hopes the takeout order route will generate more business this go-around, Stainback said every step of the process has been difficult – from securing needed supplies to overcoming public fears of the virus and food contamination.
According to the CDC, coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets. Currently, there is no evidence to support that transmission of COVID-19 is associated with food. For more information on the virus and food safety, please click here.
“This COVID-19 stuff is something I’ve never seen before in all of my years in the restaurant business,” Stainback said. “I’m sure a lot of businesses are suffering, but the restaurant industry is really suffering. I wouldn’t be scared to say that the only ones suffering more than the restaurant business are beauty shops, nail salons and barber shops. It is a really trying time for everyone.”
Stainback said it is the people who have been supporting the restaurant since it opened in 2017 that will get the business through these tough times. “I want to say thank you to everyone in the community, the City of Henderson and the County of Vance. Everyone has been a great supporter of the restaurant since we’ve been here.”
To hear the interview with Stainback in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.
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